Friday, December 7, 2012

When it comes to talent management, a surprising number of companies
still believe that the process stops the minute an employee steps in the
door. Even if they claim to cultivate, train, motivate and monitor
employees to optimize productivity, their actual investment in these
strategies isn’t what it should be – and their bottom lines tend to
reflect this.

Employees who are simply left to their own devices and
given zero feedback actually show lower levels of engagement than those
who are part of a company with solid engagement strategies in place.

Why is engagement so important? Low employee engagement costs
organizations money! And lots of it. Instead of explaining how, I
thought I would let the numbers tell you. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but these are worth millions in business costs.

An estimated 23% of payroll cost is unproductive because of low engagement.

Only two out of every ten people are fully engaged in their job.

Only 14% of the workforce is in a role that draws on their strengths.

Source: HiringSmart

To further these numbers, a Gallup research poll indicates that 54%
of U.S. employees are not at all engaged at work and only 29% are truly
motivated and engaged. Imagine only half of employees being fully
passionate and driven to accomplish company goals – there seems to be a
lot of room for improvement.

Let’s go over briefly what ‘employee-engagement’ is. According to
Scarlette Surveys International, employee engagement is defined as the
measureable degree of an employee’s positive or negative emotional
attachment to their job, colleagues and organization which influences
their willingness to learn & perform at work. Overall, an engaged
employee is passionate about their job, is dedicated to achieving
business goals, and is committed to the success of their company.

As you can infer, employee engagement is an important factor in
business success. In fact, “Engagement is the single most reliable
indicator of business performance. The more engaged a group of people
is, the more committed they are to generating results” ( Jan van der
Hoop, Vice President of HiringSmart Canada). Thus one can assume that an
increase in employee engagement should result in a subsequent increase
in employee performance. It is this increase in performance that will
set off a chain of events that will result in organizational success on
many levels including; employee satisfaction, customer retention,
increased revenues, decreased costs, and most importantly, a move toward
a potent talent-base which is always a good thing.

The top 16% of employees generate 60% of revenues.

The bottom 16% of employees cost the company 20% in revenues.

Source: HiringSmart

If your levels of productivity and engagement could use a boost, consider the following tips:

4 Tips for Elevating Employee Engagement

1. Take employee engagement seriously.
Underlying almost every personnel problem, from corner cutting to poor
communication to general high turnover, there’s a central issue at work;
employees who simply don’t care about long term company success. When
you’re ready to tackle an engagement problem, don’t just stay on the
surface or treat the symptoms. Get to the heart of the matter. And
whatever you find, take action. Adjust compensation if you need to, or
get rid of a bad apple in upper management, but whatever you do, face
the issue head on. How do you find what the issues are? ASK! Employee
engagement surveys are a great tool for collecting meaningful data about
the current state of employee engagement present in your organization.
And don’t just ask once – ask frequently. Encourage managers to open the
door to honest feedback and communication with employees. emPerform
includes an online survey tool that allows companies to create and
execute and unlimited number of engagement surveys (as well as others
such as 360 surveys, onboarding surveys, and customer surveys). See also
: The Do’s and Don’ts of Executing Engagement Surveys.

2. Beware of external motivators.
Simple rewards and punishments can only take engagement levels so far.
If employees go through the motions or fake enthusiasm only after being
begged, bribed, or threatened, something’s wrong with your talent
management system. This is why it is important to not only ask once, but
follow up and ask again and refine your engagement strategy to reflect
what works and what doesn’t in your particular organization.

3. Improve, customize and standardize your employee review process.
Does your evaluation process actually elevate employee output and
improve results in a meaningful way? If not, reconsider both your data
management tools and your company philosophy regarding reviews and goal
setting. It may be time for a new evaluation platform, one that not only
automates the process of collecting performance data, but also helps
you apply it in ways that drives meaningful change. emPerform offers a
comprehensive suite of talent management tools that can help your HR
personnel integrate and cross reference appraisal data, 360 data,
self-assessments, and engagement surveys. Any trends can be quickly
pointed out and addressed and the results can be fed into important
decision making processes like compensation planning and succession
management. Streamlined reviews ensure that performance metrics are
reflected in other important engagement tools such as promotions and
pay.

4. Make sure your employee evaluations have year-round impact.
Even the best appraisal system won’t raise engagement levels unless
managers are willing to follow through. Keep communication channels open
and active all year long, and recognize that both employee and company
success are built on a foundation of sustained team effort. Performance
management software that includes a tool for year-round feedback is
essential for giving managers and employees a platform for documenting
and recognizing performance accomplishments and milestones and ensuring
that those feats are considered when the annual review comes around (see
emPerform tag) and ensuring that engagement is encouraged all year – not just during appraisals.

What ever the current state of engagement is on your team, in your
department, or across your organization as a whole, it is up to HR and
managers to effectively assess the current levels and devise a realistic
and effective plan to get employees excited about reaching their goals
and actively owning their roles. There will always be a select few staff
members who show less-than-desired levels of passion; however, great
processes and keen surveys and performance reviews ensures that the
segment of under-engaged is kept to the bare minimum and that
high-engagement and excitement becomes the standard for employee
excellence and rewards.

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About Me

HR in the Cloud(TM) is a groundbreaking collaboration of unified HR SaaS solutions. HR in the Cloud integrates the applicant tracking technology of myStaffingPro, the human resource information system (HRIS) technology of BambooHR, the performance management technology of CRG emPerform, and the learning and compliance management technology of Strategia Ed. Together the products provide a streamlined process from recruitment through the entire employee life cycle. For more information, visit: www.hr-inthecloud.com